There are many applications where indicia-bearing stickers are placed on receiving surfaces for display. Oftentimes, the stickers include a strong adhesive wherein the sticker is, more or less, permanently bonded to the receiving surface.
For example, vehicle window stickers are often required to be applied to car windows such as a car windshield. These vehicle window stickers include park registration stickers, parking lot stickers and vehicle registration stickers. Many cities require residents to register their vehicles and apply the vehicle registration sticker to the windshield, sometimes referred to as a "city sticker." Other types of vehicle window stickers include stickers displaying emissions data and insurance data, stickers displaying support for local police departments and stickers displaying affiliation with a university.
These vehicle windshield stickers have indicia-bearing print thereon and a layer of adhesive over the indicia. The stickers are adhered to the inside of the vehicle windshield so they can be viewed from the outside of the vehicle through the glass or plastic windshield. The adhesive typically used on windshield stickers forms a strong bond with the window glass. Consequently, once the sticker is adhered to the windshield, it is extremely difficult to remove the sticker.
In certain instances, it is desirable to remove the sticker from the windshield. For example, park registration stickers and city stickers normally expire annually, and a new sticker must be purchased and applied to the windshield. Many car owners prefer to remove the expired city sticker before replacing it with the current year's city sticker. The strong adhesive used on the city stickers makes it almost impossible to remove the sticker without either mutilating or destroying the sticker. Consequently, simply trying to peel the sticker off of the windshield breaks the sticker into small pieces. One may use a razor blade to shave the sticker from the windshield. However, this usually causes a bending or possible breaking of the razor blade causing possible injury to one's fingers. In addition, the razor blade frays the sticker into small shavings that fall onto the dashboard and car floor making for difficult clean-up. Furthermore, if the sticker is placed at a lowermost position on the windshield, access by one's fingers to the sticker is limited because of the angle between the windshield and dashboard.
Invariably, even when using a razor blade, some of the sticker adhesive remains on the windshield. One must then use a solvent to clean the remaining adhesive from the windshield.
In certain instances, it is desirable to remove a windshield sticker from one vehicle and transfer it to another vehicle. For example, one who owns multiple cars may transfer a parking garage sticker from one car to another car. Windshield stickers may also need to be transferred when a car is sold. The strong adhesive used on the stickers makes this removal almost impossible without mutilating or destroying the stickers.
In all, the process of removing city stickers and other vehicle windshield stickers from windshields is sloppy, very time consuming and frustrating to vehicle owners.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,502,912; 4,184,276; and 3,533,178 disclose brackets that hold a city sticker or other windshield sticker. The brackets are mounted to the inside of a car windshield. These devices, however, only hold one sticker and are considered unsightly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,011 to Coulthard discloses a display apparatus incorporating a mat panel with numerous apertures and display strips. As shown in FIG. 3, a display strip 30 is formed from the combination of the backing strip 44, photonegative strip 40, and double face adhesive tape 50. As disclosed, the backing strip 44 is formed of translucent static-cling material. (Col. 3, Ins. 33-35, 46). Translucent material allows light to pass through but diffuses the light such that objects on the opposite side are not clearly visible. The photonegative strip 40 incorporates a top layer of translucent indicia, (Col. 2, Ins. 21-25), and substantially opaque material about the translucent indicia. (Col. 4, Ins. 43-45). More specifically, the photonegative strip 40 has a central portion 34 with translucent indicia and an outer peripheral portion 32 that is substantially opaque. (Col. 3, Ins. 19-22, 30-32). As shown in FIGS. 4 & 5, the display strip 30 is attached to a receiving surface in the form of a translucent display panel 12. (Col. 2, Ins. 66-68). The outer surface of the display panel 12 is an opaque mat panel 20. (Col. 3 Ins. 2-4). When the display strip 30 is attached to the display panel 12, the indicia must be viewed from a position in front of the display panel (See FIGS. 1-4).
Thus, in Coulthard, the indicia-bearing surface on the display strip 30 is not viewable through the receiving surface, or display panel 12. Coulthard does not disclose any application or installation where the indicia can be viewed through the receiving surface or display panel 12. Instead, Coulthard discloses a device where the indicia is viewed from in front of the display panel 12. As disclosed, it would be impossible to view the indicia through the receiving surface because the mat panel, a layer of the display panel, is opaque.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,938 to Shields discloses a one way vision display panel, which is an assembly of panels arranged to allow viewing of an image when looking in one direction but the panels are arranged to prevent the viewing of the image when looking in the opposite direction. (Col. 1, Ins. 19-23). The display panel assembly 10 includes a first panel 12, a second panel 14, and a third panel 16. (Col. 6, Ins. 37-38). The three panels, 12, 14 and 16, are bound together by adhesive layers, 18 and 20. (Col. 6, Ins. 46-48). Each of the three panels, 12, 14, and 16, and the adhesive layers, 18 and 20, are perforated with a plurality of holes. (Col. 7, Ins. 10-12). As shown in FIG. 2, holes 26 are provided in panel 16, holes 28 are provided in panel 14, and holes 30 are provided in panel 12. (Col. 7, Ins. 12-14). The three panels, 12, 14, and 16 are aligned with each other to form continuous light passages through the formed display panel assembly 10. (Col. 7, Ins. 15-18). The purpose of the holes, 28, 30, and 32 is to permit the transmission of light through the panels without significant reflection. (Col. 8, Ins. 6-8). In general, "the holes allow viewing through the panel assembly in one direction without seeing the image, yet the image can be viewed by looking at the panel assembly from the opposite direction." (Col. 3, Ins. 30-34). Thus, the holes are an integral feature of the invention in Shields.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,022 to Hasei discloses an adhesive label laminate sheet, where the laminate consists of paper 3, vinylchloride film 5, an adhesive agent 4, and a releasing agent. (Col. 1, Ins. 31-58). The vinylchloride film 5 is coated with a releasing agent such that if the paper 3 is separated from the vinylchloride film 5, the adhesive agent 4 will be transferred on to the paper 3, consequently obtaining an adhesive label 8 of paper 3 coated with an adhesive agent 4. (Col. 1, Ins. 46-53). After removal of the adhesive agent 4 from the vinylchloride film 5, the adhesive label 8 can be re-applied to another object by means of the transferred adhesive agent 4. (Col. 1, Ins. 56-59).
Like vehicle windshield stickers, trying to remove conventional stickers adhered directly onto a receiving surface is also frustrating. When trying to peel the sticker from the surface, the sticker often tears into small pieces. In addition, adhesive residue often remains on the receiving surface requiring additional cleaning.
The present invention is provided to solve these and other problems.